Hello!

My name is Ally Bean and this is my personal blog, answering the question: "What up, Buttercup?" I'm here a few times a week-- unless, of course, I'm not. And yes, I wear eyeglasses. Spectacles, if you will.

I’m Doing This

Please Note

“I am not always good and noble. I am the hero of this story, but I have my off moments.”
~ P.G. Wodehouse, Love Among the Chickens

Share Your World | Pretty & Potted

Once a week Cee asks the questions on her blog. Then, when I get it together like this week, I answer the questions here on my blog.

~ • ~

• What do you do when you’re not working? If you are retired, what do you that is not part of your regular daytime routine?

I like to go to local festivals to see the people and enjoy the atmosphere. I like to go to parks to see the people and look at nature. I like to go to speciality grocery stores to see the people and buy the tasty goodies.

• What would you do if you won the lottery?

Probably not much of anything different from what I do now.

Maybe buy a new car [mine’s 14 years old]? Maybe go on vacation for longer than a week? Maybe give it all to the humane society, on the proviso that they never name a building or fund after me. That would be tacky.

The conceit that modern technology is making my life easier. It is not.

To wit, it’s making communication more immediate, but that’s not necessarily easier. It’s making cars and microwaves swankier, but that’s not necessarily easier. It’s making airport check-in and banking more self-directed, but that’s not necessarily easier.

Why? Because there are more steps + options now when it comes to doing anything. Everything. All the time.

Meaning that, in my opinion, modern technology adds an unasked for layer of complexity to my life that I then have to muddle through to get anything accomplished.

And it wears me out.

< end rant >

•Optional Bonus Question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Last week’s gratitude award goes to an early start to our home remodeling projects. We weren’t schedule to begin until late June/early July, but our projects got moved forward. Sure, it’s chaos around here, but I feel better, less anxious, now that we’re in process rather than waiting around for things to start.

This week’s looking forward to something goes to… well, honestly, I’m not looking forward to any one thing. No big weekend plans. No small weekend plans. I’m just kind of living in the moment right now… for the moment! 😉

45 thoughts on “Share Your World | Pretty & Potted”

If I win the lottery, I’m putting a new cat wing on our local shelter with rooms, not cages and an indoor grassy area. They will name it after one of my deceased cats. As for technology, I can barely drive my car. It’s so complicated.

Kate, that’s a lovely use of your lottery winnings. I especially like naming it after one your kitty cats– clever. I agree that cars are about impossible to use now. Zen-Den got a new one last year, and while it’s beautiful, it’s complicated. Takes all the joy out of driving.

Well, I used to like driving. Maybe it was because I was younger and liked to move faster? I dunno. It just seems to me that for the price one pays for a new car, one should be filled with joy while driving it. Asking for too much, aren’t I?

So, you are definitely a people watcher. How fun!
Technology is great when it works. Sometimes it’s just so frustrating….and expensive!
So glad your renovation has begun. I can’t wait to see the results.
Our little grandson just cracks me up! So cool to watch the world through the eyes of an 18 month old.

Beth, I like to see people in their natural environments when they’re distracted by something, instead of putting on a show. So to speak…

I agree about technology, when it works seamlessly it’s great. But most of the time I find there is a struggle involved using any of it. And somehow I end up being blamed or inconvenienced for its failings.

Carrie, what you said makes sense to me. I realize that I was generalizing with my rant. And I do like many features that come with technology, but it always takes longer to do anything I want to do– and considering how much battery power it takes to keep these machines going, it costs more to do things. I dunno, you takes the good with the bad, I suppose.

Carrie, it’s funny you’d mention that as an example. When we were on our recent car trip we remarked about how we each saw so much more of what we were driving by because we didn’t have our eyes glued to maps and written directions. All we had to do was listen and look around. I liked it very much.

Touchy whether technology is helping or causing more cursing. (Swearing as well as “a curse on your children’s children..”) I dislike the insisting that anything that phones/emails/social media/business shove at you without being asked must be noticed and addressed immediately. – and must take precedence before real people right in front of you.Life is complicated enough without machines giving orders and tantrums for attention. (shall unplug rant now)
House remodeling I a lot like going on an airplane: you feel a lot better after getting through all the little details like packing, managing to get all the baggage and companions through the lines, past standing at the gate – once the door opens and you find your seat for the ride, oddly it seems you know it will all be ok
Hope your week goes smoothly

philmouse, “Life is complicated enough without machines giving orders and tantrums for attention.” You said it. Machines want you to do things NOW, and for some reason we humans do as we’re told! Funny that.

I like your airplane analogy. I’m definitely on the plane now, only worrying about the rental car when I get to my destination. And whether the airline has lost my luggage, I suppose. But overall, in a good place.

Your tech rant resonates. I wrote an essay more than 15 years ago about how all this communications technology has made it more difficult to communicate (NO ONE UNDER 30 ANSWERS THEIR PHONES, LIKE, EVER). And it’s just gotten worse. I don’t travel much not using my car, so I’ve not enjoyed the layer of annoyance it has added to planes, trains, and such.

Tara, you saw what was coming long before I did. I communicate with a wider variety of people, but do so using more, increasingly complicated, machines to do it. At first I was all onboard with techie ways of doing things, but now I find it all a time suck that I didn’t ask for but has been foisted on me. I adapt, slowly, to what’s the latest gadget way of doing things, but I refuse to believe that my life is simpler because of it.

Very pretty plants, Ally. I got a new Honda Civic 2-1/2 years ago and it is just techy enough that I have no problems with it and, in fact, really love driving it. Our recent trip to Reno, a 4 hour drive, was a breeze in my opinion. Hubby not so much but he is impatient and has back issues. I put him in charge of the music department and that seemed to help. Glad you are handling the remodel well. Hopefully it will continue that way for you. It is interesting that you didn’t say you were looking forward to the remodel being done. That would have signaled some stress to me 🙂 My transcription business is dwindling so I am looking forward to a change in direction for my livelihood. Wish me luck! Have a spectacular week!

Janet, I’ve thought about getting a Honda Civic. My Accord is so old that the new Civics are the same size as my old Accord. I’m encouraged to learn that you like yours and that the bells and whistles on it are useful. Who knows? Maybe someday I’ll spring for a new car.

I’m taking this remodel in stride. I hope. I want it to be over, but I want it to be right. I can do this once, but not twice– so I’ll be patient as all of this happens around me.

The thing about technology is that when it goes smoothly, it’s A+ but that doesn’t happen as often as I’d hope. Then there I am trying to figure out how to do that which it is supposedly making easier for me to do.

Best answer I’ve read so far on technology. I’ve never heard it expressed that way before and it made me nod my head in agreement.
There is an expectation now that we will know more and can do more because of the technology available to us. Most of the time I question whether it has made our lives easier. I think it’s just busier.

Joanne, thanks! I like the results of technology when all goes according to Hoyle, but like you said it often makes me feel like I’m being busier instead of more productive… because it takes so long to do that which I used to just whip through.

I totally agree about how there’s this underlying assumption now that we need to know more about everything. Used to be you knew what you knew from real life experiences, but now conversations often come back to what you know because you read it online… somewhere… one time. It’s exhausting to try to keep up with it all.

I had a high tech, but very user-friendly electric car that I loved. Unfortunately it was totaled by someone running a red light (who was probably glued to his high tech cell phone at the time). I made the mistake of buying a different car to replace it. It has so many gizmos and gadgets – most of which I don’t use (or even know I have). I’m getting ready to sell it even though I’ve only had it for five years. I think I’ll get another electric car.

Janis, that’s fascinating about your electric car experience [not the car accident part, of course]. Zen-Den’s 2016 car has quite a few gizmos and gadgets, but he likes them. I’ll be interested in knowing what you think about a newer model electric car if you get one. That is, whether it’s understandable or if it’s overly techie now, too.

Luffly plants 🙂 Happy, indeed!
I agree about technology and not living differently with a million dollars.
Our Kia is… 12 years old. We do plan to get The Mister a new car within the next year, lotto or no lotto (we don’t even play, lol!) and then Sassy and Moo can drive ye olde Kia 🙂
Such great afters coming from your chaos, I’m sure!

Well, we have friends who (collectively) had/have an Impala, and two Malibus for ten years or more, so we’ve gone with a Chevy Cruz for mine, and he leans toward an Impala. I would buy a Kia again, though. Unfortunately the smalls are small and I wanted a small car, but not that small.
The ones I won’t buy again are Chrysler and Dodge, because despite the love, we’ve had three different models and they’ve all leaked oil.

Occasionally I see Chevy Cruzes around here in this subdivision. I know people who swear by Chevy and the vehicles look good [as if that’s a reason for buying a car]. My SIL’s family is all about Kias, so that’s a possibility, too.

Fortunately I don’t need a car right now, but driving around in my old one I realize that it can’t last forever. Or can it? 🤞

Good points. I’ll restore bits and pieces as long as the car frame is in good shape, and the bits and pieces are available. My goal is to be that crazy old lady who drives her ancient car into the service department, and turns heads doing so. The one all the young “boy” mechanics smile at indulgently.

Donna, I know! I was pleased when I got the phone call asking if they could start 3 weeks early, but I couldn’t believe it. There’s something to be said for choosing basic, easily-obtained cabinets, tile, etc for a remodel project. It’s the people who choose the special-order items that have to wait… and wait… and wait. God bless our simple taste. 😉

Margaret, I can only imagine how a techie layer of stuff has made teaching more difficult! I find that I’m irritated just trying to get $ from the ATM– that now seems to want me to buy stamps + open a second mortgage while I’m there, instead of just giving me my money. It’s infuriating.